Project Hail Mary comes from the mind of sci-fi author Andy Weir, whose The Martian was successfully adapted into an incredible Ridley Scott film in 2015. The Martian was a story of resilience and survival which threaded a difficult needle by emphasizing the science in science fiction, yet being endlessly engaging and watchable.
PHM is also the most ambitious and grown-up movie from comedic geniuses Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the can’t-miss director-duo behind The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It’s been over a decade since their last credited directorial effort, 22 Jump Street, and the pair have been incredibly busy as producers and writers, working behind the scenes on numerous films and shepherding the Spider-Verse saga. The pair were supposed to helm Solo: A Star Wars Story, but a highly publicized falling-out with Disney and led to their being replaced by Ron Howard. Finally, in 2026, we get to experience their comeback vehicle.
With all this talent and anticipation, stakes are high, but Project Hail Mary is a marvelous epic that somehow scratches all those itches: a warm, funny, smart, and engaging film about human connection and extraordinary circumstances.
As told in broad strokes, the plot is very similar to one of my all-time favorites, the stunningly gorgeous but harrowingly dark Sunshine, about a crew of scientists who set out on a last-ditch effort to save the earth by reigniting the dying sun. In the end, the fate of the solar system comes down to one survivor and a mysterious, malevolent entity.
Change “malevolent” to “benevolent” and that’s Project Hail Mary. The sole survivor of his crew, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) is hopelessly out of his depth. He’s not an astronaut, not a pilot, nor even trained – he’s a schlubby scientist (science teacher, by occupation) whose expertise in microbiology and chemistry led a winding path to his boarding a space shuttle on a hopeless mission to research a phenomenon that just might save the solar system: an area of space which is discovered to be resistant to the Astrophage, the swarming microorganism that’s threatening to destroy the sun.
This would be a really boring movie if it was just about a sad man brooding around in space, but there are two important narratives that take shape. The first is a series of flashbacks to Ryland’s life on earth, and revealing the events that led to his current situation: how he was recruited by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) into a secret government project of international cooperation, and how it ended with him, merely a researcher and advisor on the project, floating in a tube millions of miles from home.
The second is a discovery changes everything: an encounter with a sentient alien being.
Dubbed “Rocky” by Ryland for his stone-crab-like physiology, he’s basically in the same scenario: the last of his crew, a scientist researching the same phenomenon for the same reason. With the help of machine learning, Ryland sets up a computer to act as their interpreter, and thus, an international effort to save the solar system becomes an interplanetary one, and an unusual bromance. The two require different atmospheres, but engineer a solution to cohabitate the same space for living and working.
Project Hail Mary is a gorgeous film that radiates positivity, warmth, and hope even in the direst situation. The genuine bond of friendship that develops between Ryland and Rocky is this heart of the story, but it’s also set against a bigger adventure of grit, determination, courage, problem solving, and sacrifice.
A/V Out
